Wheetsin

This is the 2nd hardest part. 1st is the waiting between scheduling & surgery (IMO). Sounds like you have all your bases covered. Let us know if you have any obstacles with approval.

Kind of (a lot) depends on what your two week diet consists of, and what the purpose of it is.

scales are like toxic, bipolar best friends. Search my past posts on scales and you'll see I'm not being funny when I say that. They're miserable little shits.

A quick note on approval - what happens most frequently is that part of the PS someone wants is considered medically necessary, while other parts are not. Often you can self pay the additional surgical costs and use the approved portion to cover hospital fees. I don't know the exact breakout, and I don't know percentages at which this is done or anything. Just for example, you're far more likley to get approval for a panniculectomy than a brachioplasty, but the brachioplasty may end up having OOP costs of, say, $2200 versus $4000 standalone.

My PS (well, chosen PS, I haven't had PS yet) and I, along with my family physician, have been "building" a PS case for insurance approval for... 8 years now. At this rate, one of them will retire before I get rid of my excess skin. You can build a case but it takes time and persistence, and quite a bit of dedication from your providers. Since I"ve not had PS I can't really answer OP's question, but I can give my guideline. Goal + 1 year of stable weight. My PS will not do reconstructive procedures on WLS patients who have not maintained their weight (loss is OK but no gain) for at least 12 consecutive months. Cost is estimated around $6200.

Ok OP since most of your action (no pun intended) has been related to us pervs looking for a cheap thrill, I might suggest using the search function and simply entering either the surgeon's name or the facility's name. You can also try the same on Google. Since we have such a diverse group of people here, you'll probably have a lot more luck actively searching for information that already exists. Although we did keep your thread fairly near the top with our hormones.

There's really not much advice to give other than really, truly look into the pros and cons of each procedure (short and long term) and then be COMPLETELY honest with yourself when you evaluate the appropriateness of each procedure compared to your desired lifestyle, level of commitment, and desired results. You really need to decide on what will work best with AND for you. In my case, like I posted earlier, I'm willing to take up the slack that my body won't automatically give me, in order to avoid some of the more unfortunate aspects of RNY. If I honestly could not pick up that slack and needed a "free pass" then the sleeve would not have been a good choice for me (still wouldn't have gone with RNY though, pretty sure I'd pick DS over it)

It's because you're cut like Arnie. They're probably figuring, "This for the delts, and give her that for the abs..."

Weight gain on reduced calorie intake (defecit) is almost always fluids. If you went from being sick, to now being well-hydrated, any weight gain will be a reflection of rehydration.

This is hard to answer because what you "should" be doing is whatever your surgeon's post-op instructions permit. I know that's kind of a non-answer, but it really is the best answer. If you're allowed mushy foods at this point tofu is fine, just make sure it's "silken" or soft tofu - it basically shreds apart with basic pressure.

Pre-op: 2 days sugar free liquids. First 2 days postop: bariatric clears Days 3 - 8: mushies Days 9 - week 6: soft solids Week 6+: as tolerated I'm just far enough post-op that some of the details are sketchy so there may be a bit of +/- there somewhere.

Well maybe it does go away. My freeziness kicked in about 6 years ago with weightloss from my lapband, and I still have it.

It happens almost always with weightloss (among other changes). It doesn't really go away, so... stock up on blankets.

A soft stop is a (usually) involuntary signal from your body that you need to stop eating, or else. A runny nose is a really common soft stop (which is why I asked). I had one for a few weeks, it was a quick inhale/sigh. But it's gone now.

I'm not trying to nit-pick, I just want to make sure I understand: You've been sleeved a year? Or banded? (Trying to figure out of you're revising TO or FROM a band). My band was removed in September after about 6 years. I've had my sleeve since late March. There is a forum specific to band -> sleeve revisions, you can get to it from the "Forums Home" page. Lots of great info to read through there.

I have the card, I just prefer not to use it.

I didn't want: malabsorption dumping (guaranteed) rerouting pouch dilation malnutrition weight regain I'll gladly give all that up if it means I need to take a little ownership for what I put in my mouth.

Honestly, I wouldn't bother. Tthey will give you gowns. Multiple, if you desire. And ones like that, without the opening, aren't going to be practical since you (from the desc. anyway) won't be able to put it on once you have your IV, and your catheter and/or drain are just going to hike it up to your waist anyway. Alsom if your plan would be to wear it into surgery, most hospitals will not allow this and require their own gowns. And like I said, once you're all hooked up to all the tubes everywhere, you really can't get on a standard gown. You need something with an arm that opens, at least.

^ if it were good service/concern, I get it. But the same waitstaff is leaving my glass empty and brining out the wrong food, so I'm not so sure. I think they just like to make the fat girl squirm.

We went to a local Indian restaurant the other day. I ate what I could, and asked for a box for the rest. The waitress had THE OWNER come out and talk to me because I didn't eat my whole meal and she thought it must've been because I didn't like it, even though I told her at least 4 times I just wasn't that hungry (even before ordering). So here's the manager, kind of pawing over me, asking me why I don't eat more, why didn't I like it, could he get me something else, etc. and drawing quite the scene. I got annoyed, honestly -- it was so much work to try and put this guy at ease. I told him that I wouldn't have boxed it up if I didn't want it, so since I was taking it with me, all was good. I understand where he was coming from, but sheesh... I've gotten questioning looks when I've just ordered a side. I had a waitress (with my band) offer me a "customer accomodation" - apprently a discount they can give you when you don't have enough money to pay for the food you ordered. She apparently thought I was doing it to be cheap. Mostly people just want to ask me an obnoxious number of times whether or not it was OK, was it not prepared well, etc. I thought I could curb it by saying up front, "Go ahead and bring me a box when you bring the food, because I won't eat it all." But nope. My parents are the opposite. They both have lapbands. When they order, they tend to say things like, "We don't eat very much. We both have lapbands. So we won't eat a lot. Because we both have lapbands we just want to split a small. Our lapbands won't let us eat any more than that." Unfortunately, it seems the majority of their wait staff has never heard of a lapband. They tend to get responses like, "Uh...ok.... " and then I've heard them asking the other wait staff "What's a slap band?"

I think pea Protein is horrible. I don't mind soy Proteins. You might also want to try hemp protein, which has decent Fiber and Omega-3s. It's not the best but I'd still rate it higher than pea protein. I've not tried it, but rice protein is also available. Of those, soy and hemp will be considered better "multi purpose" proteins. This may help: Go here, to the very bottom of the article before the comments begin. There's a nice summary table comparing different proteins.

Little of this will be new info, but corn starch or powders (I prefer Mexsana) will work. I have a large, droopy pannus. My skin gets very red/raw/itchy from the skin-to-skin contact. Each morning out of the shower, after I dry, as I'm putting on deodorant I lift my pannus and apply a swipe where my pannus "fold" begins... from side to side (just like a huge smile). I've been doing this for a few years and the only time my skin chafing/contact bothers me is when I forget to apply it. I assume by crease you mean where the thigh adjoins the hip, and not somewhere like the backs of your knees? (Because I probably wouldn't apply powder to the backs of my knees ) As for fabrics, cottom or fabrics designed to "wick away" moisture. But since that's where the panty leg band is (assuming you did mean hip/thigh), and most bands/elastic aren't cotton, I'd say look for panties that have cotton covered bands. I know Hanes Her Way has a few styles that do this.

BTW, I was denied on my first submission for a VSG revision (even though they had just approved my lapband removal). I appealed and was approved, but my insurance changed before we could schedule the surgery. So I had to start over from square 1. All in all from my band removal to my sleeve revision it took about 7 months. I was going to wait about 3 more weeks and if I didn't have an approval by then, was going to self pay. So in my case, patience (a little, anyway) and persistence saved me about $11k. Definitely hang in there...

Apnea should definitely count as a comorbodity. Also you might want to talk to your PCP and see if you have anything else going on. Lots of people have comorbidites and don't know it. I had early onset osteoarthritis, and had no clue... I just got a gritty sensation when I turned my head on humid days. I would throw in your BP and diabetes, too, because those will be costly to insurance in the long run. At your height, 218.5 lbs will put you at a BMI of 40. What has your weight gain looked like in the past few years? E.g. do you have a trend of gaining about 10 lbs a year or anything? You could also "project" (as long as you have history to back it) a likely timeframe when your BMI will reach 40, and include that info. It won't win you an appeal, but every little nudge in your favor helps. You can also see if your PCP could write you a letter explaining adjusted BMI. BMI really is a crock of poop. By any BMI stnadards, weightlifters with under 10% body fat are still "obese" because they're heavy. "Modern" BMI charts account for your age, gender, and build as well. One of my co-workers is very tall and lanky, "beanpole" if you will, and weighs around 200 and is categorized as "obese" and wears a 34" waist. Sigh...

Yep, I - too - am just here because I wanted to read about people having sex with a surgeon in CA. Living vicarioulsy through others, I guess. (Though maybe I have or haven't, and would say it is or is not a memorable experience...)